Leon Snep sits on a piece of the new Ferris wheel on the site near the Central waterfront where the attraction will shortly begin to take shape. Photo: May Tse

The man behind Hong Kong's answer to the London Eye has sought to allay fears the big wheel project might never get off the ground, saying all the parts are now in the city and a soft launch is on schedule for September.

It has been a year since the three-year contract to operate a giant Ferris wheel was awarded by the Lands Department - but the site at Central ferry piers 9 and 10 remained empty until a few steel structures appeared recently and some large containers bearing the logo of the company that won the tender, Swiss AEX.

With only two years of the contract left to run, AEX director Leon Snep told the Sunday Morning Post: "Our planning is more or less on par."

Snep, a Dutch national, said the company always knew it would take at least a year to get the Ferris wheel up and running.

Of course, we would have liked to have the [wheel] up and running by now

Leon Snep

In his IFC corner office, which overlooks the site AEX pays HK$825,000 per month in rent for, Snep added: "Of course, we would have liked to have the Hong Kong Observation Wheel up and running by now, but we are still working according to plan - a plan which we presented in our tender to the government as far back as November 2012."

According to Snep, the past year was spent on research and engineering work, finalising the design - and securing permits.

"After winning the tender, we filed for a permit with the Buildings Department to do the required land testing procedures to find out about the soil layers," explained Snep.

That apparently took about a month. After those tests, another permit was needed for more tests. It was January before AEX could decide on the foundations needed for the 60-metre-high wheel, less than half the size of the 135-metre London Eye.

Snep believes he has got the right experts on board: international construction management firm Mace, which was involved with the London Eye and Hong Kong's Ocean Park; global engineering firm URS; and Hong Kong landscape designer Urbis.

The wheel itself was designed by Dutch Wheels of the Netherlands, which worked with a specialist in offshore equipment. That meant the wheel could be engineered well within the usual time frame of two years or more, according to Snep.

"Our tender contained a sketch of an existing model of a standalone observation wheel, the DW-60," said Snep. After winning the tender, Swiss AEX and its partners focused on tailoring the wheel specifically for Hong Kong as well as securing permits.

In 1997, Snep began buying, restoring and reselling old carnival equipment, which turned out to be a lucrative business. In 2005, he bought his first Ferris wheel, La Grande Roue de Paris, which has operated in the Netherlands, Britain and France.

Snep says he was hit by a couple of setbacks in 2008; consequences of the financial crisis and business deals that fell through.

"Let's just say that I've learned some important lessons, one of them being that as soon as you own a Ferris wheel, you need an excellent site to put it on; without that, it's a burden with no benefits whatsoever," he says.

Swiss AEX, which was set up in 2011, runs the Asiatique Sky, the observation wheel in Bangkok, which has been in business since 2012. The Hong Kong wheel is the same height and by the same designer.

"Sixty metres works well; the higher the wheel the more expensive it becomes to manufacture, so the higher the ticket price," Snep said.

With the site still more or less empty, how likely is it that the wheel will be up and running in as little as three months? "We've appointed Leighton as our construction company and they should be able to start in a week or so; all parts of the wheel have arrived in Hong Kong; my Ferris wheel engineering team is on standby in Bangkok," Snep said.

"There are a few, less time-consuming permits to secure, but still, at this stage, I don't see why we wouldn't be able to do our soft launch in September," he added with confidence.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Wheel 'ready to roll' in September

Adding legs to snakes...
Something that is already so pretty doesn't need pointless things to be added, why not promote the idea of less is more...

prctaxman Jun 8th 20148:07am

Why have a ferris wheel? Who really wants it to blight the beauty of Victoria Harbor????

HK-Explorer Jun 8th 20149:39am

Initially when I heard of a Ferris wheel I thought would be neat. But what is the point when it will be lower than all the surrounding buildings and way lower than the peak. I have a much better view from my office than I would have from the Ferris wheel and I get paid to look out the window in the office. I also have air con and free drinks.

mdap Jun 8th 201410:15am

So Asia's World City is doing something other cities achieved ten years ago - the ferris wheel is a tired and worn out idea!

To mdap,
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I agree. That is why Ferris wheel in Central is such a stupid idea. I can't figure out the reason to have one in Hong Kong. Who proposed it, who is paying for it and who will run it?

pragmatist Jun 8th 20141:03pm

Snep, must be so hard to be the face of a project that is widely disliked by society. Make sure this little toy for small girls does not snap.

johnyuan Jun 8th 20146:37am

Hong Kong with the Peak for a panorama view of the harbor and buildings, we need a Ferris wheel like a plane needs a wheel to fly.
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It is a silly thing to just serve mainly tourists who have no time to hike up the Peak. Or it is exactly the point to reduce number of tourists disturbing the rich residents on the Peak.
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Looking forward that the Ferris wheel would be soon dismounted after a few typhoon visits.

rpasea Jun 8th 20145:43pm

I long for the pre-handover days when city planners enabled developments that benefited the people of Hong Kong. Now all they think of are tourist attractions tourist attractions tourist attractions! Like a broken record. The absolute last thing we need are more tourist attractions.